February - Dating

This is probably as good a time as there could be to share about me and Danny's 'story', per say, since I know for most (me included), it seemed like it appeared out of nowhere (and unfortunately, I have practically no pictures from when we were dating.  oh well).

So, Story Time! - Meeting and Dating Danny (*warning* this will be long, but it's mostly so I have a journal record of it too): I knew of Danny fairly early in the school year because he just got off his mission and joined the choir and tended to give a lot of talks.  Danny and I officially met back in October or so, when we were on a double date ... with different people.  I was on a date with a guy from the ward who wanted it to be a double date, so last minute (like seriously half an hour before), I convinced my roommate Lisa to go on a blind-ish date with a recent return missionary that my date knew (ended up being Danny, who apparently had only been convinced to go a couple hours before).  The date was fun, but nothing really happened between me and the other guy, and nothing was there for my roommate either, but I remember thinking that Danny was cute and fun and courteous, and had nice hair, and was really talkative.


Fast forward to beginning of the spring semester.  February 1st was our Bishop's open house FHE he has every semester, with lots of food and people and things to do like pool, video games, etc.  I had just got there and was eating some chocolate strawberries (Bishop has a chocolate fountain too) when I see Danny.  We haven't really talked to much since the double date, maybe some passing conversation in choir, but that was all.  But he came up to me and the conversation just clicked, and we ended up talking for over two hours, and probably would've been longer except Lisa (my ride) needed to go home to do some homework.  So, the next sunday (Feb 7), a fast sunday, between break the fast (our ward's monthly potluck dinners) and choir, he asked me out on a date for that Wednesday (Feb 10).  (I remember I was taken a back but excited, I hadn't gone on a date for months, but looking back I feel bad because I was really sick that day and he thought I only said yes as a pity date since I looked so blah... oops).  Anyway, the date was wonderful.  He was a perfect gentleman, took me to Olive Garden, one of my favorites.  The conversation was non-stop about anything and everything, family, school, likes, dislikes, and totally random stuff.  We had to ask the waiter probably five times for more time because we couldn't stop talking long enough to even read the menu.

After the date, he invited me to go with him and his friends out country dancing at The Hall the next day.  I'd never been, but had been interested in going, esp. since the last semester I had learned a bit of country dancing to peak my interest enough to take the class this semester.  So, after some coaxing from Lisa to take him up on it, I went (it's now Thursday, Feb 11).  And we had a blast.  I got to dance with some of the other guys there too, who know a ton of country dances, and learned a lot more steps and such, and really had a lot of fun hanging out with Danny.

The next night (Fri, Feb 12) is the Valentines Dance.  I wasn't fully sure if I was even going because I didn't have a date, but Lisa was pretty insistent, that this would be a good way for me to be more involved and active and that we'd be each other's "dates", lol (I also found out later that she happened to see Danny at Sandwich Seminar at institute earlier that day while I was at work, and he kept asking her if I was planning on going to the dance and saying he really hoped I would, haha).  So, we went, and while Danny was in fact on a date with another girl (who I found out actually had asked him about a week prior) and did dance with her a number of times, he probably spent an equal amount of time with me on the dance floor.  It was so much fun and totally made the dance worth it.

The following day (Sat, Feb 13) while doing home work, I get a text from Danny asking if I was free that night to watch a movie with him.  I said sure and he picked me up and went to his place.  We started watching Footloose (I'd never seen it), but he kept fast fowarding and just summing it up for me and ended up "watching" it in less than half an hour, and then stayed up until 2 am just talking.  It was amazing how easily we could talk and seemed to share so much in common (side note: the first couple of weeks, I truly felt like we had sooo much in common... but now, we both realize, we are practically opposites, lol, that just happen to complement each other. funny how that happens).  I was definitely seeing potential in this guy. :)

The next day (Sun, Feb 14) was Valentine's Day.  First, a little back story.  Lisa and our friend Rachel tend to wish the guys in the ward would ask the girls on more dates, but since they never really do, Lisa and Rachel do it for them.  Several times this year already, they would plan double or group dates and ask different guys.  By now, they were sick of asking guys out on the own, and a few weeks prior to V-day, they were talking about how they really wanted to have a date for the night, esp. since they had just discovered a free classical string quartet performance for that night - "what a perfect group date opportunity"!  But since they were tired of asking out dates, they joked about having blind dates.  Soon, the idea sprung that they would ask out blind dates for each other so they wouldn't know who they were going with.  ... and somehow, I got mixed into the group and they found a blind date for me too. (*great*.)

Anyway, this was all planned before February even started.  Now that it was finally that night, I had just spent the last four evenings with a really fun guy.  I didn't really want to go a blind date, but I said I would.  But to make it worse, at church that day Danny invited me over to his place for dinner, and I had to decline because I was going on a blind date (*ugh!* worst excuse ever!).  But I guess I looked so pitiful during the meetings, and Lisa filled Rachel in on the previous days events, that they told me that they would find my intended blind date a different girl and I could invite Danny instead (amazingly, that hadn't told my blind date who he was going with, and in half an hour, they found a girl who didn't have plans and wanted to come!).  AND, I asked Danny just an hour before the event (and had to tell him that I'd rather him come with me to the concert than go on the blind date I was supposed to be on... talk about awkward), and he came!  SO, the rest of the group was on blind dates and I was with Danny, and while he kinda fell asleep during it (remember we stayed up until 2 the previous day :/ ) and skipped dinner too, it was so sweet.  I remember asking him why he'd come if he hadn't eaten and was so tired and saying I felt bad, he replied matter-of-factly, "well, you're worth it."  :D

Afterwards, we went back to our apartment for ice cream and games, which was a lot of fun.  Then, since Lisa and Rachel and her friend picked up their dates (Danny drove himself to our place and we carpooled), they had to take their dates home.  Danny hung around and we ended talking for another couple hours.  By the end of the night, he sat me down and basically said, "ok, I really like you and I like spending time with you and I think you feel the same way?" and that was when we decided to start officially dating.  (...and yes, I realize our first date was only five days prior, but ya know, it felt waaaay longer than that, lol).

The next few weeks were pretty much filled with either homework or dates with Danny.  After two weeks, we'd already been on nine dates.  Amazingly enough, these weeks happened to correspond beautifully with my classes having very little homework and work being really low key which meant I had a lot more time to be ... well, kinda flighty and girly and giggly and spend time with Danny.  It was so cool how well the timing was, because usually my school/work load was enoromous, but I managed to still keep up my scores and get all my projects done without sacrificing time with Danny or my other friends and commitments.  Sometimes I wonder I was still able to get everything I had to do done with all that I did and still keep such a calm head on my shoulders (because as most people know, calm is typically the last thing I am with lots of stress and things to do), but I do know that just being around Danny made me so happy and calm and confident in life, just more easy-going with things around me, that no matter how crazy life seemed, it was completely worth it and I couldn't have planned it better myself.